Retelling Tales 2: Robin Hood and the Monk Newly Restored

Robin Hood and the Monk booklet final

Robin Hood and the Monk: Newly Restored is the second of MEMORI’s collaborations with the Year 8 & 9 pupils of Llanishen High School. We had a great time introducing students on the More Able and Talented scheme, convened by Eva Hazeltine-Rees, to the earliest manifestations of the Robin Hood myth.

This little book retells – in a modernised version – the earliest surviving ballad, Robin Hood and the Monk, supplemented with the eye-catching illustrations of Llanishen’s students, who drew on the myth’s extensive and instantly recognisable iconographic motifs. The only surviving manuscript version of this ballad – known by its classmark Cambridge MS Ff.5.48 – is missing a leaf, meaning that around 40 lines of text have been lost. This current edition contains the missing lines as reimagined and rewritten by Llanishen’s pupils, stitched together to form a complete text.

As with our first collaboration, The Life of St Thomas Becket, we were only able to use a few of the images and ballad stanzas the students produced. I will post a complete version of these images and verses tomorrow.

Thanks to all involved, and especially to Eva for inviting us in the first place!